Weight-Loss Death by Drinking TOO MUCH Water

Weight-Loss
there's a thread or two here on water intoxication... it's got a real name but I just don't care enough to look it up... It's not something that the average person has to be concerned about - it makes the news as part of stupid frat boy hazings, or idiots trying to make something for nothing on radio shows... Elite class athletes, mainly marathoners, are the only ones who it's really a concern for.
 
The water intoxication, or hypoatremia I think, is mostly overhyped. People think that if they drink more than half a gallon of water during a normal day they'll get it, and that's just wrong. The people getting that are extreme cases, an insane amount of water in a short period of time. Combine that with sweating alot, and it's even worse, because what's happening is that you're diluting your electrolytes, and sweating speeds up that process.


However, personally I think I have drank too much water and may be paying for it. Several months ago I posted some health problems of mine, couldn't figure out for anything. It was mainly severe fatigue after eating, and I'm not kidding when I say "severe". I'm not talking about getting a little sleepy when you've eaten too much. My testosterone bottomed out too. After countless hours of experimentation and countless more lectures from people who say I had diabetes, I recently found out that I can make these symptoms occur with nothing but tap water. I can reproduce it. All I have to do is drink a glass of water. That's it. 8 ounces of water and my head will be swimming, I need to take a nap, etc. Smaller amounts like 4 ounces often make me feel funny but 8 ounces will make me feel like hell. Some bottled water doesn't affect me though. I can reproduce it any time of the day, even first thing in the morning and after biking alot, when I know I'm dehydrated and not water logged from drinking 4-8 ounces. I can reproduce it on an empty stomach, or after a big meal, all I have to do is drink a glass of water while I'm eating.

After researching this more, I found that some people have a sensitivity to certain chemicals in tap water, especially fluoride. Even if you're not sensitive to it, you can overload your system with it and effectively get fluoride poisoning. After that happens, you will get the same symptoms I've been complaining about, and often many others. Fluoride can decrease your testosterone too.

Starting a few months before I got sick, I bumped up my water consumption alot. I would drink at least a gallon a day, which is still alot less than some people. When I'd exercise I'd often hit 1.5 gallons. Never thought much about it until now. I think it was the tap water. Some bottled water doesn't affect me much, if at all, but I've noticed all of them were filtered by reverse osmosis. I have a good particle filter at home, but it's not reverse osmosis. This type of filter is the only one that will take out fluoride as far as I know.

Anyway, not to scare anybody, but, I've been sick for 8 months now, it ruined my year, and if I can reproduce these sick feelings with a fairly small amount of tap water, I figured maybe I should mention it. I know it sounds crazy, but here in the last two weeks I have severely limited my water consumption, especially filtered tap water, and I have felt alot better, any fatigue episode has been very minor. My testosterone has also been increasing. When I first figured it out, it jumped up about 35 points in less than a week. That was a few weeks ago and I haven't been tested again, but it's pretty obvious that it's even higher.
 
Is too much water bad for you?

Something I read which may be helpful. Please comment:


"When you read about people who die or get kidney damage “from drinking too much water” you are only hearing half of the story. The other half of the story is often overlooked. These people die or are seriously injured internally from over-hydration with insufficient replacement of sodium, which is called dilutional hyponatremia. The documented cases are from participants in long distance running or ultra endurance events lasting longer than four hours of continuous, sweaty, activity. Sports replacement drinks mixed with water are the best source of electrolytes and can be of significant help in avoiding hyponatremia in long distance athletic events or long, hot and humid days of rigorous outdoor work. ​

Now there have been recent cases where people had drinking contests of water and actually drank more than two gallons in AN HOUR. I drink a lot of water in a day - maybe a gallon, BUT when done in ONE HOUR you can cause the same reaction as above and dissolve all of your electrolytes, shutting down your major organs and die.​
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However, the regular person in America, does not drink ENOUGH water per day. Those who does not exercise at all or that rigorously, needs water to lose weight. If the body does not receive adequate amounts (1-2 quarts a day), you will actually start to retain water causing a net gain in weight and the liver to cease metabolizing fat at a normal rate. Basically, your metabolism will slow to a point where fat and water is now being store by the body UNTIL it receives the proper amounts of water. An easy equation with the elements of weight loss is:​

Water + Oxygen = Weight loss ​

Drinking water plus physical activity where you breathe at a higher heart rate (ie aerobic activity like walking, jogging, swimming, biking, resistance training etc,) will ultimately lead to weight loss. Not only will you release retained water – ending the bloated and puffy feeling, but your metabolism will burn fat at a higher rate than before you started adding sufficient water intake to your diet. If you are significantly overweight (50-100lbs), you need to add more water to your diet than the minimum recommended daily amount. Some experts agree that the intake should be another 6-8 oz. of water for every 10-20 lbs overweight. ​
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The bad news is that coffee, tea, diet drinks, alcohol, and nicotine are diuretics meaning they actually will dehydrate you. These drinks should not count as your 1-2 quarts a day of daily water consumption. If you think you maybe retaining water, try adding up to a gallon of water a day and you could lose about five to ten pounds of retained water in a few short days. I have seen people lose up to twenty in a week by ONLY adding water to their diet."
 
That's a really interesting article you found there - I heard it was bad to drink too much water and wondered why. Thanks for the info!

Mike.
 
I have heard this before. I keep trying to tell my mom she drinks too much water. She's one of those rare people that can drink 64oz in 1 hour.
 
Sometimes I feel like I'm too busy to drink all the water I need, but I've started drinking hot water and carrying it in my coffee thermos throughout the day. I now drink lots, it kinda seems like I'm drinking tea or coffe that way. I also found that it really takes away my hunger too.

Once in a while I put cold water and a few slices of lemon in the thermos, it tastes great!
 
I've heard this too. A weightloss agency and I actually had extensive discussions about it.

8-8oz glasses was what I was suppossed to have. I would usually end up drinking more than that, mostly because I was working out.

When I went to weigh in, I was told the reason I was not losing was because I was drinking too much water.

No it was frusterating, to say the least.
 
All I know is anything in an excessive amount is bad for you. If you're guzzling down the water over and over and over it can over load the body. Drinking a good amount of water when you're active isn't a bad thing though. Just don't over load yourself. :D
 
Drink when you're thirsty and this is not an issue.

As you adjust to being properly hydrated, you will find that your body no longer "hides" your thirst from you, and if you don't get some water every [20 minutes or so in my case], you will feel it.

Starting out from an underhydrated state, though, you'll be wanting to aim for (see, force yourself to drink) a gallon a day for females and 1.5 for males. Some people require considerably more. I know I drank 1.5 gallons during a long bike ride yesterday, and I did not need to go to the bathroom during or for some time afterwards. My total for the day was over 3. I've been told this is excessive, but I feel great and I'm doing well, so, yeah.
 
I've been neglecting to drink throughout the day and have been making up for it by drinking about a half gallon in a sitting, and was just now wondering if that violated any kind of healthy water limitation, so it was good to read this article. Thanks for posting!

wait, tea dehydrates you!? why? isn't tea mostly water? what about putting juice into your water? does that make the water non-hydrating? :eek:
 
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I have been drinking over a gallon of water a day. Is this bad? I urinate every 4 or 5 hours too. I just keep thinking that the more you put in, the more it cleans your cells.
 
70% of your body is water, so lack of water will harm your body, slow down the metabolism system, that's why drinking enough water is a simple way to lose weight.
and I found that water can help to reduce the appetite, just a little water before meal about 30 mins, try it and feel the change.
 
my average is just under 2L of water a day but sometimes I go way over 2L and it shows on my weight for a day or 2, I gain about 2-3lbs but I don't worry because when that dry day comes after it my weight goes back to normal. Its mostly my work where I sit for hours in front of a computer so I get up to get some water just to stretch my legs, and sometimes I do it way too much and end up going to washroom every 30 min :) No matter how much water you drink it will not stay in your body for too long so I really don't see anything bad from it, but if you really go insane on water I guess it could hurt your organs or something from overload.
 
wow. resurrecting an old thread. just realised what i had written back in 2008? yes, drinking too much can certainly do so much worse than good. i'm constantly thirsty now. i did something bad to my kidneys. my legs would swell up and the water just wouldn't pee out. i would put on 6 kilos in a day. then wee it all out at night when i was laying down i guess. now my legs always swell. the doctor gave me strict instructions to stick to 2 litres of water a day. i was 'eating' that in diet jelly alone. i would hit that before 8am. it was awful cutting back. and now i'm still always thirsty. i easily drink 10L a day without noticing :( can't stop. i'll keep trying though. but yeh, its something i really regret.
 
i remember one time i drank a LOT of water at one time to rid my system of something and by the time i got to my girlfriend's house I felt like I was literally going to die. I sat in a tub of water or an hour and just breathed. it was scary.
 
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